Notices by SearingTruth (searingtruth@infosec.exchange), page 2

"I find myself constantly wondering what cherished American principle we will abandon next."
SearingTruth

@jeffowski

"I love my fuhrer. If he wants to break the law, that's okay. He is the law."
1942, Warsaw Ghetto, Unknown German Citizen, Observing a decomposing mass

"Our children suffered all we proclaimed just."
SearingTruth

"A whisper of horror.

That's all we could hear."
SearingTruth

"I wonder if we should be content.

When the innocent are not."
SearingTruth

@bmacDonald94

"Do not carelessly take the hope of others my friends.

We all derive that most precious gift from so many different sources. From deep within ourselves, from belief in good and benevolent supernatural forces, from belief in ordered and ultimately just natural forces, and from a plethora of other deeply held and personal beliefs uncounted.

Our fight is not with hope fellow citizens, it is with intolerance, despair, suffering, and death.

In fact, we need not fear the beliefs of others, only their imposition upon us."
SearingTruth

@GossiTheDog

"There is zero artificial intelligence today. There could have been, but 50 years ago the decision was made by most scientists and companies to go with machine learning, which was quick and easy, instead of the difficult task of actually reverse engineering and then replicating the human brain.

So instead what we have today is machine learning combined with mass plagiarism which we call ‘generative AI’, essentially performing what is akin to a magic trick so that it appears, at times, to be intelligent.

While the topic of machine learning is complex in detail, it is simple in concept, which is all we have room for here. Essentially machine learning is simply presenting many thousands or millions of samples to a computer until the associative components ‘learn’ what it is, for example pictures of a daisy from all angles and incarnations.

Then companies scoured the internet in the greatest crime of mass plagiarism in history, and used the basic ability of machine learning to recognize nouns, verbs, etc. to chop up and recombine actual human writings and thoughts into ‘generative AI’.

So by recognizing basic grammar and hopefully deducing the basic ideas of a query, and then recombining human writings which appear to match that query, we get a very faulty appearance of intelligence - generative AI.

But the problem is, as I said in the beginning, there is no actual intelligence involved at all. These programs have no idea what a daisy, or love, or hate, or compassion, or a truck, or horse, or wagon, or anything else, actually is. They just have the ability to do a very faulty combinatorial trick to appear as if they do.

And while the human brain consumes around 20 watts, these massive pattern matching computers consume uncounted millions, and counting.

However there is hope that actual general intelligence can be created because, thankfully, a handful of scientists rejected machine learning and instead have been working on recreating the connectome of the human brain for 50 years, and they are within a few decades of achieving that goal and truly replicating the human brain, creating true general intelligence.

In the meantime it's important for our species to recognize the danger of relying on generative AI for anything, as it's akin to relying on a magician to conjure up a real, physical, living, bunny rabbit.

So relying on it to drive cars, or control any critical systems, will always result in massive errors, often leading to real destruction and death."
SearingTruth

@AmericaMourns

"This is one of those many times in history when humanity must prove itself.

And no one knows for certain what it will decide.

A rare moment when theists and atheists alike must share faith in the same hope.

That nothing is certain, except that humanity is good."
SearingTruth

"We suddenly discovered we had already surrendered."
SearingTruth

My fellow Americans, our ideology has not been directly challenged from within since the Civil War.

But please make no mistake, it is again.

And the argument is once again between those who desire more humanity and those who desire less of it.

However Trump and his Republican Party have added an ominous hoped for end.

Autocracy.

And the elimination of everything we ever were.
ST

"Our times are indeed dire, and foretold, and unfortunately there is little we can do to forestall the immediate crisis that confronts us.

However, we find ourselves at this moment in history for very simple reasons.

As I have said before, I am not religious. And yet I have found justice, compassion, and wisdom in the thoughts and writings of many historical religious, philosophical, and political figures.

And one of the saddest realities we face today is that so many of these wise men and women have already delivered most all the answers we seek.

Peace. Justice. Humility. Compassion. The willingness to stand for good when all others stand against it.

These are not new answers my friends, but among the oldest recorded. And when we abandon our most precious treasures of wisdom, we will suffer their warning.

But hope can never be lost. And there are times when suffering gives way to new understanding, and new opportunities to right the wrongs of the past, and boldly forge a more just and prosperous future for all.

I cannot help but hope that this is one of those times.

May the light of compassion always bless our great nation."
SearingTruth

"The truth is that the Constitution fails to defend itself, enduring only in the brave hearts of those who would uphold it."
SearingTruth, A Future of the Brave, 2005

@Nonilex

"We have become the evil we fought."
SearingTruth

@bmacDonald94

"If we are lost a great ideal will perish with us."
SearingTruth

@WarnerCrocker

Our children suffer all we proclaim just fellow citizen Warner Crocker.

But there is a better way, and many have presented alternative paths to change the course of humanity.

We need only choose one, and pursue it unto the beginning of a new and compassionate world, for all of us.
ST

"A Grand Challenge

My friends, the simple truth is that we are wasting our precious time, resources, intellect, and passion. As a species we are just as aimless today as when our primitive ancestors first ventured out upon this earth.

Today I am proposing that for the first time in human history, we change that.
Radically.

More than any time in history, humanity needs a grand challenge. Not only to avert its extinction, but also to indelibly etch the common bond of mutual reliance and cooperation on current and future generations.

Fortunately, all of the forces that now seem to conspire against us can quickly be turned to our advantage.

For the first time in human history we actually possess technologies so advanced that any physical problem can potentially be solved.

And yet, I wonder, do we possess the will and wisdom to utilize them for our salvation instead of our destruction?

I propose that we find out.

So today I offer you a radical and stark choice between two future realities.

An aimless future of continued war and conflict, with all its accompanying suffering and death; or a limitless future dedicated to defeating suffering and death itself, with all its accompanying technological advancement and social evolution.

Yes indeed, I have a new plan, for all of you. A plan of hope. A plan of adventure. A plan of such extraordinary magnitude as to take the breath, and challenge the senses, of all who would consider it. A plan to bind our common people in hope, and finally free our conscience for noble purpose.

I propose that in the next three decades we at last end the scourge of human disease upon this Earth, and begin the inevitable adventure of humanity's migration beyond it.

We shall at last unlock the fundamental secrets of our biology so we may conquer any illness or defect at will, and we shall free ourselves from the bonds of our native home so we may evade global calamities, and begin the expansion of our species beyond this world.

No longer shall our survival be dependent upon the random and dispassionate forces of nature. No longer shall we quiver in anguish as we helplessly watch those we love suffer and die in agony from an endless list of human disease and dysfunction. No longer shall our globe be divided in constant turmoil and conflict while the hammer of fate hangs precariously balanced over all we know and love.

We shall at last take control of our future, our fate, and ourselves.

No other endeavor ever attempted by humankind will require more genius, dedication, compassion, and sacrifice.

And no other endeavor ever attempted by humankind will be more vital to the continued existence of our species.

I understand that for many this may initially seem like pure science fiction. This is to be expected since the scales of the threats we face reside within the scope of what we have always considered to be science fiction. However, in reality, all of these goals are well within our technological reach. They are the quickest, and I believe only, way for our species to battle both the physical and societal threats that will continue to confront us."
SearingTruth, A Future of the Brave, 2005

@WarnerCrocker

Most every day I must weep for humanity fellow citizen Warner Crocker.
ST

"Age is defined by the tragedies we witness."
SearingTruth

@WarnerCrocker

"Have you ever wondered how good was so easily destroyed by evil in the past?

And thought to yourselves how ignorant and unaware those people must have been?

Well, look around.

Because the past is upon you."
SearingTruth

"I cry silently, because as a child I had to be very quiet."
SearingTruth

@knittingknots2

"Health care should cost nothing, for anyone, ever.

Just pretend it's a war.

But instead of sending our children to die, we're sending them to live."
SearingTruth

@mattsheffield @atrupar

"Democracies are lost because the people that live within them, given enough time, forget how precious they are, and forsake the foundations upon which they stand."
SearingTruth